Wednesday, September 26, 2012

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

   Are you familiar with the old hymn "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go?" I've heard a few different recordings of it in my life, but I'd never sung it in a congregational setting. Lyrically it is a song that speaks to me. In recognizing God's love that never lets us go, and then responding by giving ourselves back to God, I feel like it is a song of hope that recognizes God's centrality to our hope. I also love the imagery of giving our weak and weary selves to God and allowing Him to make something more. 
   Anyway, I was recently reintroduced to this song through a book I read and I decided that I wanted to sing it for my congregation. For whatever reason, the music in the hymnal wasn't my favorite so I decided to try my hand at re-arranging things a bit. So here for your listening pleasure (or maybe not) is my rendition of "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go". I hope the lyrics touch your heart as they have mine.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Making the World Flat...

I just an article in the most recent issue of Worship Leader Magazine about multicultural worship.  Within the article (written by Vaughn Thompson Jr.) are these words...
"The world is not the same as it was 20 years ago. Cultural lines are becoming blurred and less  definitive as globalization and the booming technology age makes the world smaller and flatter than ever before."
What do you think this means? As we gain more opportunities to interact with more and more people, are we truly connecting more? Or are we simply setting ourselves up for more chances to set sail for new horizons and finding ourselves falling off the edge of the world.  As much as I love the internet and social media, I wonder sometimes if we are losing the art of communication. How much longer will it be before we lose the ability to have compassionate debate and considerate sharing of ideas. Maybe it's not just the internet age that has contributed to this loss, but we seem to be losing ground faster everyday.
What do you think? Is this shrinking of the world leading to more opportunities to learn and share, or more building of walls to fend of the ideas coming at us from all sides.